Sunshine and Cyclopses
by ophsroo
Summary: Nicole is just a demigod at Camp Half-blood when she gets chosen for a quest. Along with her friends, Nicole must prevent the worst from happening; and altering the future. This is a Percy Jackson pre-quel/novella, but I do not own the settings, or some of the characters.


Ouch!" I exclaim "I burnt my finger. Stupid marshmallow."

"You are such a baby Nicole! You survive stab wounds and you're complaining about a burn." retorted Britney, my one of my best friends. Her long, brown, wavy hair shines in the firelight, and her blue eyes gleam. The way the fire is crackling reminds me of her personality, beautiful, but fiesty.

"Look who's talking! I've seen you cry over a paper cut." Adam, her handsome boyfriend says. He's one of my best friends too, but Britney comes first in that relationship.

"Hey! Why are you taking her side?" She grins as she pokes him in the ribs.

The couple continues to play fight, and I begin to strum my ukelele. I gave up on that marshmallow long ago.

Before we continue, I'm Nicole Fields, and I'm 16. I have curly black hair and pale green eyes. Everyone says my hair is beautiful, but I disagree. Curly hair takes too much work. My mom is dead and my dad, well, he's kind of a greek god. You're probably confused- yes, the greek gods are real, and Mount Olympus just happens to be in New York. On the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. The gods meet real people, fall in love, and... Anyway, the gods have children with mortals and move on. They love them, but they can't stay with the family, they have too many! So where do we put these children? Camp Halfblood! Well, the ones we can find live there. My dad is Apollo, the god of the sun, music, poetry, and archery. Britney's mom is Hecate, goddess of magic, but Hecate doesn't have a cabin, so she stays in another one. Adam's mom is Aphrodite, and you can tell, with his sandy blond hair and choclate brown eyes. We call ourselves demigods, and we go on quests, play war games, train, and fight monsters.

I walk over to Lola, another best friend of mine. She's sitting alone, which is unusual because she always hangs out with us and Jamie, her best guy friend.

"What's up?" I ask.

"It's Jamie! He fell off the lava rock wall. Chiron says he broke his leg!" She breaks into sobs.

"Come sit with us!" I help her up. "Being alone won't help him."

We walk back to Brit and Adam. I explain what happened and they immediately begin to comfort her. Across the campfire, I see Chiron finish a s'more.. He's a centaur, half horse, half man. He is one of the people in charge, along with Mr.D, the camp director ( D is for Dionsyus, the god of wine. He's only here for a punishment. Some guy runs up to them, and starts to speak rapidly. Chiron sighs, then stands up.

"A message has been received! There is a nest of cyclops in Ontario. It is a threat to many people and demigods. If not dealt with, it could be a big danger. We must send a quest!" Chiron announces. " The leader of this quest will be..." he scans the crowd.

I glance at a girl named Annabeth, who's smart but...12. I look at Luke beside her. He's strong, and he's old enough. There are so many choices.

"Nancy Frank shall lead this quest if she chooses to accept it." Mr.D says.

"It's Nicole Fields, sir" the messenger says.

"What? Alright, what he said. Will you accept this quest?"

What? Me? I've wanted a quest since I came here!

"Yes sir, I accept!" I reply excitedly.

" Excellent, who will you bring with you?" Chiron inquires.

Oh dear. I have 3 people to consider. I look at Lola, who shakes her head. Oh yeah, Jamie's hurt, she can't leave.

"Britney and Adam" I confidently say.

They both agree, and Chiron tells us to meet him at the Big House, camp headquarters. He rides off, and we stand.

"Let's go." I say, dusting my pants off.

We start walking away from the fire. "

Oh my gods thank you sooooooo much for picking us! Especially together so we don't have to worry about each other!" Brit yells, and hugs me.

" Yeah, it's pretty cool" Adam grins. " We can still make out!"

Britney punches him in the arm, grinning.

"Ow... I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He winces.

She punches him again.

"Ok I'm not kidding! Do you want me to be kidding or not? Women." he says.

"Mmmmm... making out is fine,but we shouldn't gross Nikky out."

She kisses him and we stop walking. They are sooooo cute together, but we need to stay focused.

"Okay lovebirds, I'm glad you're happy, but we have bigger problems than making out. I have to get a prophecy to receive." I frown. "They're never very nice."

On the way there, we walk past cabins, the dining hall, the barracks, you know, normal camp stuff. In a flash, we arrive at the Big House. It's a three story brick building, and the chimney is puffing out smoke. The door has an old fashioned design, with a big brass doorknob. I hesitate to go inside, but I turn the doorknob. Chiron is waiting.

"Okay Nicole, just go into the attic, the Oracle will tell you the prophecy."

I nod, and head up to the attic. I walk past the old quest souveniers and then I see the Oracle. She is basically a mummy, wearing hippie clothes and lots of leather necklaces. I wonder how old she is.

As I approach, her eyes suddenly turn green and she starts to glow. Then she begins to speak in a gravelly voice.

"Into the land of ice and snow.

Three young halfbloods must go.

They shall meet a future threat,

if they defeat it many problems will be met.

Servants of the old king,

must destroy before his voice begins to sing."

Her eyes go dim, and I get out of there. Talk about creepy. What does that mean? An old king... I ponder the prophecy as I leave the dusty attic. When I arrive downstairs, Chiron and my friends are talking about supplies and camping tips.

"I hate to interrupt Girl Scouts, but I just got a prophecy." I interject.

"Yes, of course. Nicole." Chiron replies.

I tell them the prophecy, slowly so I can process it myself. Wow, I'm tired. I plop down onto the ugly green couch.

"A future threat? That doesn't sound good." Adam mumbles.

"No kidding genius." Britney teases." I'm more worried about that old king dude. Who could that be?"

Chiron frowns, and starts pacing the room.

"I know who it is, and its not good. Anyway, you guys are leaving after breakfast, get some rest, pack, say goodbyes."

"Alright, goodnight." I reply.

The three of us walk to our perspective cabins, and when I get to mine, I almost wish I wasn't going on this quest. Almost. I greet my halfbrothers and sisters, pack, and fall into bed.

The next day, the whole camp sends us off. Everyone comes up to me, and wishes me luck. Lola rushes to me and hugs me really hard. Her hazel eyes are tearing up, and her hair is a mess.

"Stay safe, okay? I couldn't bear if something happened to any of you guys."

I'm tearing up too, I'm going to miss this girl.

"No problem, I'll be fine. Look after Jamie, okay?"

She nods, sniffles, and goes to say goodbye to Brit. I talk to some other campers, then jog over to Chiron, and give him a big hug. He grunts, and embraces me. He's like my second father, sort of.

"Who's the old king? I ask. "If he's a threat, shouldn't we know about it?"

He raises his eyebrows, and looks at me for a while.

"Hmmm... I'm not so sure. As long as you defeat the cyclopses it will be fine"

He bids me farewell, and I head back over to Brit and Adam.

"Ready?"

Adam pretends to think about it. "I don't know... obviously!"

"Let's bend some cyclops into shape!" Britney laughs.

Chiron already gave us instructions, take a cab to New York, get a bus to Canada, deal with the threat whenever it comes, and beat the cyclopses. Someone called us a cab, so we get in with our backpacks and head to the Big Apple. We mostly sit in silence during the ride, but Adam chats with the driver about some sitcom. He drops us off at Central Park, and we pay him and say goodbye. Britney drags us over to a hotdog stand and we buy some snacks. I catch a whiff of manure, but I don't think anything of it. We start walking, admiring the tall, green trees.

"Now what? How do we get a ride to Canada? Riding a moose?" Britney retorts.

"Hahaha. We look for trouble. And a ride." I say.

We stroll around the park, eating hotdogs while Britney looks up bus rides to Ontario. We are sitting under a tree when I smell the scent in the air again, only much stronger.

"What's that smell? It's like manure!" Adam wrinkles his nose.

I stand up, and see what might just be the future threat.

"Um, I think that's where it's coming from."

A brown creature is looming over us, two horns on top of it's head. I draw my bow and the others reach for their weapons too. It's a man from the waist down, but bull from the waist up. "It's the Minotaur," I cry. I take an arrow and aim straight for its heart. Unfortunately, he deflects it easily, and moves toward us. Britney runs behind him.

"Hey meathead! Over here!" He turns around, and I grab my dagger and leap on his back. It's twisting around like well, a mechanical bull. Britney's trying to distract it with her poisonious sword, and Adam is attempting to stab it's legs, but he's not succeeding. I'm about to stab him when he throws me off and advances on Adam. Adam holds his spear in front of him in defense, but the Minotaur could snap it in two. I get ready and aim. My arrow flies and hits him in the lower back. Not fatal, but he backs away. It almost charges me, but seems to change his mind and runs away.

"Darn it! We let it escape." I scratch my head."That was terrible."

"Aww, nah. We injured him, and he got scared." Brit reasurres me.

"Or maybe he was saving himself for later." Adam mutters. "Let's go get our tickets."

The bus ride is long and boring. The scenery flashes by, and it starts to rain. Britney and Adam cuddle, and I look away. I'm not jealous, I just hate feeling like such a third wheel. Well, not really jealous anyway. I wach the raindrops roll down the window for a while, then I close my eyes and drift off to sleep in the hard bus seat. Sadly, I couldn't have a peaceful sleep. Demigods always dream, but they usually feel more like nightmares.

I'm in a type of warehouse, with old wooden boxes and rusty appliances. The walls have graffiti in some places, and... wait, are those skeletons? I'm behind a pile of boxes,.and then I hear voices, so I look around the corner and see about 8 cyclopses around a bonfires, eating somekind of meat. They're all wearing loincloths, and one is wearing an ugly crown on it's deforme,d head. The one with the crown, who I assume to be the leader is talking, but his cronies don't seem to be interested.

"The three sacrifices will arrive in two days time. We must prepare the weapons for the sacred ritual. Our king won't arrive by himself. Our spy at the camp says they didn't pack many dangerous threats, so we're all set. It will be a piece of cake."

Three sacrifices? A spy at a camp? It seems they're expecting us. With a trap, not to mention. The scene blurs before my eyes, and I am being shaken gently.

"Nicole. Wake up." A man's voice says. I open my eyes and see a young man with blonde hair, tan skin, and a sparkle in his eyes. I recognise him immediately as my father, Apollo. I haven't seen him in years, when he came for my birthday.

"Dad? Why are you on a bus?"

"I came with information, and some things that might come in handy on your quest. Here's a haiku.

Apollo comes to help.

Bringing glad tidings and gifts.

What an awesome dad."

He grins. My dad is the god of poetry, but he's really not very good at it.

"Um, okay" I turn and see Brit and Adam snuggled together, fast asleep.

"Should I wake them?".

"Nah. You can tell them later. Anyways,I came to tell you about the old king. You know the story about Gaia telling her son Kronos to cut up his father?" I nod.

"So he did, and he became king, but his son Zeus overthrew him eventually, so he was defeated. And?" I finish.

"Well, the side that opposed us in that first war wants to bring him back." Apollo grimaces. "And they can. Something with sacrifices. You won't be able to take the cyclopses down alone, so I brought some tools."

He snaps his fingers, and an ugly orange backpack appears. Whistling to himself, he begins to pull out some items and hand them to me. "Greek fire. Handy for blowing things up. Cyclops are immune to fire, but Greek fire is different. Greek fire explosive arrows. Duct tape. You never know. Cash. Just in case. Food. You always need food. I brought chocolate, apples, granola bars. Hmmm, where's that last thing..."

He sticks his head into the bag, and I take the opportunity to speak.

"Long time no see, I guess. The last time was my twelveth birthday."

He comes up with a little box, like a mint tin with a sun engraved on it.

"Yeah, I guess it was. You've grown up." He hands me the tin, then gives me a warm hug. He smells like freshly cut grass, and sunscreen. It's actually comforting.

"Open it at the right time. You'll know when. You are so brave, my daughter. Good luck." He pulls back, and gives me a little salute. " Thanks, Dad. I miss you."And I really do. He smiles, and disappears.

My mom died when I was 11, and that's when Apollo brought me to camp. He's loving, and always kind. He bids me goodbye, and disappears. I shake my friends awake and explain about my dream and Apollo's visit. Britney rubs her eyes and picks up the mint tin.

"I wonder what it does. Maybe a big ray of sunshine will come out and flash everyone."

I give her a look.

"Not that flashing! You know what I mean!"

"Whatever you say. Are we almost there?" Adam asks, and turns to look at me.

"Um..." I check my watch. "Just an hour to go. The next stop is Hull, and it's near the warehouse, I can feel it."

During that hour, we strategise and come up with a foolproof plan. Once we arrive in Hull, a town near Ottawa and the U.S border, I start to feel nervous. It's picturesque, with cute little houses and shops. We get off the bus, and wait for a few seconds until the bus drives away, leaving us in the dust.

"Let's ask about abandoned warehouses in the area. Maybe a local knows." Adam suggests. We approach a grandmotherly type woman and talk to her for a while. She tells us about an old garage in a junkyard 6 kilometres east. We thank her and walk away.

"Anyone know metric?" Britney asks. "Uh, yes. Kilometres are a bit more than half a mile. So you divide the number in half." I answer. "I guess we better start walking"

The gravel road seems really long now, but oh well.

While we walk, we joke around and I almost forget the circumstances. The sun is setting, and it still smells like rain. The rythym of my stride is soothing, but I wish I had my ukelele. It always calms me down. But at least my friends help with that too! I met Brit when I first came to camp. She stays in the Hermes cabin because her mother, Hecate doesn't have a cabin. I had to stay there for a little bit while they made room in the Apollo cabin, so we bonded. We both love music, Once Upon a Time, and reading! Adam arrived a few months later, and our circle grew. Lola and Jamie didn't come until we were 13, but they still fit in really well. Lola and Adam were Aphrodite, so they're like brother and sister. My legs are just starting to get tired when we see the warehouse.

"Okay" I stop." Let's get ready to go." Our plans are laid out, Brit can manipulate the Mist, the only thing that hides us from humans, and other things. Adam can charmspeak, which means his voice can convince people to do things. And I have a mint tin. Together, we are unstoppable! We know we are outnumbered, so we need the element of suprise. Britney will make us invisible with the Mist, Adam will try to charm the cyclopses into fighting each other. They're much bigger than us, but I can shoot them with explosive arrows, and if that doesn't work, we throw greek fire at them and run. Easy.

"Are you guys ready?" Adam asks, biting his nails.

Brit and I look at each other, and nod. I pat my jacket pocket.

"We have the mighty mint tin. All will be fine."

At the warehouse, we find a door I saw in my dream.

"Sooooo, do we knock?"

"Um, no. I think we should just go in. Weapons ready?" I ask.

"Yes." Adam and Britney say in unison, and burst out in silent giggles. I open the door a crack, the cyclopes are busy eating. "Coast is clear. Come on." We creep in and Britney starts to shroud us in the Mist. We move silently towards the cyclopses.

"So Marley, what's the plan when the brats get here? Squish 'em? Eat 'em? Rip 'em to pieces?" a pimply cyclops says. The cyclops I assumed to be the leader answers him. "No you idiot! You know we can't cause too much harm to 'em. Kill them simply, and let the blood spill on the coals. All in one piece." he says with a bit of a british accent.

The cyclopes all groan in dismay. I don't even feel nervous, just blurryI pull out an explosive arrow. "Let's get this party started."

I aim for Pimply's head, and fire. The arrow soars in the air and hits him in the shoulder, but he plucks it from his skin. And then it explodes in his face! Priceless! He disintegrates, and so does his buddy next to him. Two birds with one stone. Now we have their attention. Britney moves toward a cyclops, hurling balls of magic at it. Adam starts yelling things like"Bash him on the head, kill him!" That keeps a few busy. I grab another arrow and get closer to Marley. He looks outraged, and advances towards me. I shoot, but he dodges it.

I grab my dagger and run behind him. I slash his back legs, and he turns around. I look around. Britney and Adam are still fighting, but they're struggling a little bit. I take an arrow, and stab him with it, then run away. He moves to grab it, but not in time. Boom! He turns to dust. I am about to run and help Brit, but a cyclops grabs me from behind. I'm dangling by my coat. I fumble for an arrow, but I can't reach! His grotesque face makes a smirk.

"Not so strong now huh? This one is for Marley!"

The shock is hitting me like a wave. I'm going to die without a life! No boyfriend, no kids! I'm about to give up, but wait...my tin. My tin! I unzip my pocket, and open the tin. Sunlight explodes from it, and the rays disenigrate all the cyclopses. Britney was right! I fall to the ground, hard. I forgot that the monster would drop me if he died.

"Owwwwwww!"

"Are you okay? Of course you are, we won! We won!" Adam yells. Britney runs toward him, and kisses him like it was the last time. I grin. I can't believe it! I almost died. The lovebirds break apart, and I limp over.

"Well, I might not be okay, I landed on my ankle, but otherwise yes! Great job guys! Group hug!" I say. I embrace them and feel reeeeeally relieved.

We travel home by bus again, and on the way we review what happened to process everything. "It's a shame we didn't beat the minotaur, that could be bad." Adam says.

"Well, we tried." I pat him on the back. "It's over for us."

We keep chatting, and I realize how much my friends really mean to me. We all got cuts and bruises, but Brit dislocated her shoulder, and I sprained my ankle. Pretty amazing. We could have all died. Back in New York, we get a cab and head home.

When we enter the camp boundaries, the kid on watch, Greg, sees us and runs over.

"Are you guys okay?" He asks." Do you need medical attention right away?" I shake my head, and he yells

"The quest is back! Someone get Chiron!"

It's almost like a stampede, the way everyone comes running. Lola and Chiron are at the head of the pack. We walk over to them and I'm enveloped in a hug from Lola. She's crying, and I start to tear up too. Her smell is comforting and I squeeze her hard.

"Hey Lo! I missed you too!" I cry.

Brit joins our hug, and we bawl for a long time.

Later at the Big House, we tell our story for Chiron, Lola, and Jamie, suprisingly. He's okay, his leg will heal in a few months, but he's in a wheelchair. Chiron tells a story too, apparently Grover (he's a centaur) came back with a boy named Percy Jackson, but when they were about to enter the camp, the minotaur attacked them and abducted his mother. Percy killed him with his bare hands, and he's only 12. Unfortunately, his mother was long gone.

"A future threat. Huh." I say. Jamie nods.

"At least it wasn't colossal. I'm so glad you guys are back. Lola won't have to wheel me around as much now." She leans over and kisses him.

"I don't mind so much." she says.

Woah! How did that happen?

At campfire that night, we are crowned as heroes and we get laurel wreaths placed on our heads. It's a big celebration, and everyone comes up to me and congratulates me. I even meet Percy Jackson. He seems okay, but not hero material. One thing is still bothering me though, the spy the cyclopses had. Who could it be? Well that's another adventure.


End file.
